Foreword by Gary Craig, Founder of EFT

You and I should send Silvia Hartmann a basket filled with gratitude for bringing EFT to life on these pages.

Using her engaging writing style, she describes this remarkable healing technique in compelling terms for both everyday citizens and those in the healing professions. She blends her extensive knowledge of other fields with EFT to bring you a book that is useful, entertaining and practical.

We are on the ground floor of a Healing High-Rise and EFT is lighting the way. It represents a paradigm shift in the healing field which requires fresh thinking if we are to use it to its fullest extent.

Who would have thought that this simple procedure of tapping on various energy meridian points would allow healing where everything else had failed? Who would have thought that years of healing sessions for specific traumas, phobias, anger, guilt and grief could be reduced to a few minutes? Who would have thought that reducing one's emotional load so easily would often have profound effects on physical ailments such as pain, headaches and breathing problems?

I've been doing these procedures since 1991 on behalf of hundreds of people. Through my videotape series and seminars I have trained thousands of EFT practitioners throughout the world (including Silvia) who are performing these miracles daily.

However, we haven't reached perfection yet and we don't get 100% results. Nonetheless, EFT works remarkably well most of the time and is creating profound effects around the globe.

Silvia's masterful work is your opportunity to learn about it.

Gary Craig

P.S. If you would like to learn even more about EFT, please visit our extensive web site at www.emofree.com.

Adventures In EFT

Introduction

In the autumn of 1998, three little letters kept cropping up all over my hypnotherapists Internet groups - EFT.

Apparently, this stood for Emotional Freedom Techniques and people were simply raving about it. It got so bad that the moderators forbade mention of the technique because discussions on its use were monopolising lists that were originally set up for hypnotherapists, neuro-linguists and personal development strategies in general.

I knew some of the people who were so excited and enthusiastic about this new thing and couldn't help but wonder what on earth could be so amazing. Eventually, I visited the website www.emofree.com and that same night, I phoned the States and ordered a copy of the basic course - 11 videos, 4 audio tapes and a thick manual.

When it arrived, I sat down with a cup of coffee, as open a mind as I could consciously manage, and when the example treatments began, I tapped along to learn what it felt like and to familiarise myself with the points and the procedure.

An hour later, I had accessed a severely repressed traumatic time - the death of my father. I had touched the intense pain I had been carrying for a long seven years, I had been absolutely horrified by the realisation that time had not even begun to heal this at all, and I had released the pain through the tapping, reaching a state of brilliance and clarity; a state of awareness; a release so profound that I cannot convey what this was like or how it subsequently affected me to you in mere words.

I knew then that all I had heard about this technique was true. It was as profound and powerful as they had said it was. This really, truly worked.

Since that moment, my life has not been the same again.

As a therapist, since then I have been able to literally make the lame walk and the blind see. I have had more thank you letters in the past year than I got in 15 years before.

As a teacher, I have been able to allow my students to learn at a level they never thought possible.

As an individual, I have gained a profoundly new elegance of life. I have discovered new skills and abilities I never thought I possessed, and those I already used, have become supercharged.

As a mother, I have been able to calm my children, to support them in a way that was previously unimaginable, and to help them permanently overcome perceived limitations and moments of loss of faith.

What more can I say? I sincerely hope that this book will be the starting point of your journey of discovery of self through this most wonderful of mind/body healing tools.

God Bless EFT

Silvia Hartmann August 1999

Part I

Learning EFT

How To Use This Book

In Part I, I'm going to walk you through the basic technique of EFT. It is extremely simple, and extremely easy to learn. Its effects are also extreme - you should have a profound response if you follow the instructions carefully. If you do not, I would suggest that you allow yourself to seek out an EFT workshop, a practitioner or buy the basic EFT Practitioner's video tape set. Only a few in a hundred people fail to get results with EFT if it is applied properly, perhaps even less than that. Chances are that with a little bit of extra help you too will be able to access the tremendous resources on offer, some of which I discuss in Part III. I have grouped the ideas for EFT application alphabetically, but you can read them as though they were chapters which follow one another.

In Part IV, you will find a number of “EFT extensions” - strategies designed to support the basic EFT process and to make it even more flexible.

In Part V, I have given a short explanation of terms used in EFT and their meanings so you can look them up at any time during the reading of this book.

In Part VI, you will find some of the currently available resources and "further learning" possibilities you can explore at your leisure. Let's start now with a very brief …

1. History of EFT

The principles behind EFT were discovered by Dr Roger Callahan, a clinical psychologist of over 40 years experience, who had made it his life's work to find ways to cure people of unfounded fears, phobias, and anxieties, because he himself had suffered from these since childhood.

Like any true explorer, he left no stone unturned, and finally came across some techniques, which proved to have startling repercussions.

In the much told story, he had a client named Mary who suffered from a severe phobia of water - she couldn't look at any bodies of water and found bathing highly traumatic, even if there was only a couple of inches of water in the tub. He had been working with her for 18 months, using absolutely anything and everything standard psychology and even non-standard psychology, such as hypnosis, had to offer, but she still remained afraid to death of water. During one session, he asked her to tap under the eye, which is an important acupuncture/acupressure/meridian point, and the fear just disappeared - instantaneously. It has never returned, and the treatment took place 16 years ago.

Dr Callahan called his discovery Thought Field Therapy, on the grounds that thoughts related to the energy field in the body, and that changing this energy field by tapping on the meridian points could release negative emotions rapidly and easily. He refined and researched his method, and today TFT and its descendants are the subject of serious scientific study and have already gained wide-spread acceptance.

TFT treatments are based on what is called algorithms - specific sequences of tapping points to relieve specific problems.

One of Dr Callahan's students, Gary Craig, a Stanford Engineer, came up with the brilliant idea to just tap all the points for every presenting problem - there are, after all, only 13 of them, so whichever point or points were the correct ones, they would always be covered by default.

He thereby managed to create a technique that EVERYONE can learn to use very easily and very quickly, and which does not require special diagnostic training, therapy training, or even any knowledge of the body's energy system whatever.

Gary Craig called his streamlined version "EFT - Emotional Freedom Technique". I will take this opportunity to express my tremendous admiration for Dr Callahan who has given the world a legacy to be proud of; and my tremendous gratitude to Gary Craig, who has made this technique accessible to every man and every woman in the street. If you are interested in learning more about the thinking, the science and advanced therapeutical applications behind EFT, I cannot recommend too highly that you should engage in the trainings available in the field. At the end of this book, there are many addresses and also recommended courses, video trainings and books.

Here, we are only concerned with talking about the basic technique and all the wonderful things you can do with EFT, so let's now press on and find out what EFT is all about, and how it works.

2. How EFT Works

All energy based meridian therapies rest on what Gary Craig calls "The Discovery Statement":

The Cause Of ALL Negative Emotions

Is A Disruption In The Bodies Energy System.

It used to be held in psychotherapy that a negative emotion was caused by a negative or traumatic memory or event. Every time, this memory was accessed or "lit up" as a result of a thought or an environmental reminder of some kind, the negative emotion was experienced.

"Memory ® Negative Emotion"

in a simple

"Cause ® Effect"

relationship.

Dr Callahan, on the other hand, discovered that there was a step in between the memory/thought and the negative emotion, and this was a disruption in the smooth flowing of the energy through the meridians.

So instead of the memory or thought causing the negative emotion, according to the discovery statement, the process is more like this:

A Thought or Memory

Triggers

A Disruption In the Body's Energy System

Which is experienced as:

Physical or Psychological Pain

Thereby, instead of trying to undo the thoughts or memories in some way, which has been attempted by millions in therapy for many years and with highly unpredictable results, the energy based therapies directly intervene in the intermediate step - when the disruption in the energy system has been calmed and relieved, the person experiences no further pain or negative emotions from the original memory or thought.

As you will see, this simple yet profound discovery doesn't only make perfect sense, it has also proven itself in practise - there are thousands of therapists like myself all across the world, daily relieving clients of all kinds of long standing problems using variations on this idea, successfully, predictably, time and time again.

Theory and conscious understanding is all good and well, but you don't really begin to appreciate the truth of how amazing and wonderful EFT is - until you have experienced it for yourself.

In a moment, we're going to learn how to do basic EFT, and you can pick any limitation, fear, traumatic memory that bothers you and try it out for yourself. As my Aunt says, "The proof of the pudding is in the eating."

Bon Appetite!

3. The Technique And How To Use It

a. Points & Tapping

EFT uses 14 major meridian points, which are generally at the start or the end of a major body meridian. Here they are:

The Sore Spot - On your chest where you would pin a medal or a brooch. Gently push with your fingertips to find an area that feels tender, rather than sore.

Start Of The Eyebrow - Where the bone behind your eyebrow turns into the bridge of your nose.

Corner Of The Eye - On the bone in the corner of your eye.

Under The Eye - On the bone just below your eye, in line with your pupil if you look straight ahead.

Under The Nose - Between you nose and your upper lip

Under The Mouth - In the indentation between your chin and your lower lip

Collarbone - In the angle formed by your collarbone and the breastbone

Under Arm - in line with a man's nipples on the side of the body

Thumb - all finger points are on the side of the finger, in line with the nail bed.

Index Finger, Middle Finger, Little Finger

Karate Chop Point - on the side of your hand, roughly in line with your life line.

Gamut Point - just behind and between the knuckles of your ring and little finger.

Take a moment now to find and touch each point in turn. You may notice that some feel slightly different from others, or you may not. When you get to work on various issues, you will feel that some of the points "feel" differently when you tap them, and you will notice that the shift or release will occur with one or more points, depending on the reason for using the technique at the time.

In EFT, these points are stimulated by tapping on them. Try now tapping the point under your eye, with your index or index and middle fingers, quite rapidly* about seven to nine times or as many times as it takes for you to take a normal breath in and out. The strength of tapping should be comfortable, but you should be able to feel a resonance from the tapping spreading out across a reasonable part of that side of your face.

* I have noticed that different people have different speeds of tapping. We generally show a tapping speed in line with the rhythm of "Jingle Bells". In spite of this, some people develop a kind of woodpecker action after a while, and others tap quite slowly. I would suggest that what feels right to you probably is right for you.

For practise, tap all the points from the Eyebrow to the Karate Chop point now just to get the feel of doing it.

b. Contacting The Problem

In my opinion, the one thing that makes the biggest difference in the effectiveness of using EFT is the user's ability to contact the problem.

We have so many thoughts, all of which are linked to our body via our general neurology; so many memories; so many stored experiences. These stored experiences all have the patterns of how the meridians were flowing at the time stored with them, too; and certain thought patterns direct how the meridians are functioning from second to second in a dynamic, interlinked system.

To direct the tapping to the required area, we focus the mind on the problem by using a statement of the problem: "I am afraid of heights."

Preferably, this is spoken out loud to engage as much of the neurology as possible and to contact the problem as directly as possible.

It is important to note at this point that the statement is NOT to be confused with an affirmation (see also EFT & Affirmations in the A-Z of EFT). Oftentimes, it is only a small part of the unconscious mind that holds certain fears, angers, sadnesses and griefs - the person KNOWS on the conscious level that they are a child of the universe, for example, but there are parts of them which don't agree and think they're a bad person. It is those parts that require the healing and balancing that EFT has to offer, and these are spoken to directly by allowing them for once the honest truth of the matter - the opening statement is like the key that unlocks the dungeon they've been hiding in for so long.

Here are a couple of stories to illustrate this point. I gave a demonstration of EFT for a Weight Watchers group. One lady there tried it with the opening statement of, "I'm not as thin as I would like to be" and said that she really felt nothing when she tapped. I asked her gently to think for a moment if that was really what she thought when she looked in the mirror, and she shook her head and whispered, "No, I think I'm a fat pig." When she tapped using that statement, the shift was extreme and the release visible to all and joyful in its intensity. She has since told me that this moment constituted a true turning point in her life.

Another lady who was pregnant and afraid of giving birth, used the statement, "I am apprehensive of the forthcoming event." Again, nothing happened. I asked her to go within and try and find a better description that would ring more true to her and she came up with, "I'm scared to death of giving birth". Tapping on this provided her with the release she so desperately needed, cured her backache and headache on the spot, and allowed her to continue forward with her pregnancy without further problems.

In a moment, take a little time to think about a problem that you have, a pain, a fear, an illness or perhaps a phobia, something that always makes you depressed when you think about it, just generally any negative emotion you are happy to release now and forever. Choose a statement that rings true to you, choosing words that make sense to you and you alone. The more forthright, direct and truthful you can be, the more profound a change you will experience.

Statements for Physical Ailments & Pain

Opening statements for physical ailments can be done in many ways. If there is a physical symptom connected with your illness, you probably have already a way you describe it routinely to others: I've got that tightness in my neck again; my back's killing me; that churning in my stomach; the ringing in my ears etc. Use this for your opening statement.

You can just name your illness - my hay fever, my psoriasis, my allergy, this darned migraine. Remember the main important part of the directional statements is that you know what you're talking about, and that what you're saying makes perfect sense to you.

c. The Set Up

Now that we've named the problem, we can start with the Set Up.

For the opening statement, we use the following routine:

Find the sore spot on either side of your chest; rub it round gently and say:

"Even though I (insert problem statement),

I deeply and profoundly accept myself."

For example, if you decided your problem was "My back is killing me", you would say as your Set Up Statement:

"Even though my back is killing me,

I deeply and profoundly accept myself."

Repeat this three times, rubbing the Sore Spot continuously as you do so, and please do endeavour to put some meaning and energy into the "I deeply and profoundly accept myself" part*.

* You don't have to say those exact words. If you so choose, you could say:

· I love myself,

· I deeply and completely accept myself;

· God loves me;

· Everything is going to be alright

… or any variation that carries this kind of meaning for you.

I have known a few clients who could not bring a statement of acceptance of themselves over their lips at all and we began the sessions with tapping for "Even though I don't accept myself at all, I deeply and profoundly accept myself!"

When working with young children, use a version that makes sense to their age group, such as "Even though (problem),

· I'm a great kid

· I really like myself

· My mummy loves me

· I'm OK

… or any variation that has a positive meaning and is acceptable and makes sense.

d. The Round

Following the Set Up, we now tap all the points, starting from the top (Eyebrow) and ending up with the Karate Chop Point on the hand.

As you tap each point, repeat a shortened version of the Set Up Statement which is called the reminder phrase; so if your set up statement was,

"Even though I hate and despise my boss,

I deeply and profoundly accept myself",

… you say the reminder (shortened version) phrase:

"I hate and despise my boss"

… on each point at the same time as you tap. The reason for this is that we can get distracted very easily; by repeating the statement on each point we stop ourselves from thinking about lunch, the next appointment or how the weather has changed and make sure the tapping goes directly to the problem you're working on.

Once you know where the points are, the round of tapping (excluding the set up) should take no more than about 2 minutes, unless you feel a strong urge to stay longer on one particular point which can sometimes happen.

e. The 9 Gamut

This is the middle part in what is sometimes called the EFT sandwich:

Following tapping all the points about 7 times from the top of the eyebrow to the karate chop point, you tap continuously on the Gamut point, and then do the following:

· move your eyes from the floor to the ceiling without moving your head, trying to keep the tracking smooth (easier said than done!) and back again.

· move your eyes from left to right and back again

· move your eyes in a big circle and back again

· hum - Happy Birthday To You (or another tune or just a scale) for about one bar;

· count - one two three four five

· hum again

Take a deep breath in and out.

As you do these (at first slightly unusual) things*, repeat the statement in between as best you can to keep yourself focussed on the problem in hand.

Then, repeat the Round one more time, tapping all the points from the eyebrow to the karate chop point. Take a deep breath and allow yourself a moment to reflect on how you feel now.

The eye movements are linked to various brain functions and the reason for the humming-counting-humming manoeuvre is to switch between hemispheres quite quickly; both are designed to "wake up" your neurology so the tapping can go to work on the problem.

It is for this reason that more advanced users sometimes do without the 9 Gamut part as it isn't always necessary to "wake up the brain" to get the changes; to begin with, I recommend you do it every time until you are completely familiar with the technique and have acquired a "feel" for when it is necessary and when it isn't.

f. Testing Your Changes

A great way to ascertain from yourself or others just how you feel is to put a number on it. The technical term is taking a SUD Level or SUDS Scale reading, which stands for Subjective Units of Disturbance.

What that means is you ask yourself:

On a scale of 10 to 0, 10 being the highest imaginable pain/freak out/fear/sadness/dis-comfort, and 0 being completely calm, pain free, tranquil, relaxed and happy, how would you rate what you are experiencing at this moment?

This works for emotions as well as for physical sensations and even for beliefs which might be a problem:

On a scale of ten to zero:

- how depressed are you right now?

- how painful is your leg?

- how bad is your fear of heights?

- how distressing is this memory?

- how much do you hate this person?

Before you begin tapping for any subject or problem, take the time to take a SUDS rating and make a mental note of it. Then, when you have completed a Sandwich treatment, ask the question again to find how much has changed. It's a good way to be able to assess how well the treatment has worked and if you need to repeat the treatment.

Sometimes, the problem can go from as high as 10 to as low as 0 in a single Sandwich treatment.

More often though, you start with 8 or 9, and after a round of tapping, the severity is reduced to a 4 or a 5.

This means that the treatment is beginning to work but there's more to be done.

Testing is a very important part of the EFT procedure; see also Testing in the A-Z, Part 2.

g. Subsequent Treatment Rounds

If the original set up statement was something along the lines of, "Even though I have this problem" and you have tapped a first round on "this problem", and upon checking with yourself, this problem is not as severe anymore but still noticeable, change the start up affirmation to:

"Even though there is still some of this problem remaining",

"Even though I still have some of this problem".

When you're down to a rating of "Oh its a tiny little bit now" which would be a 2, 1 or a half on the subjective rating scale, a third round can be done with the opening statement of,

"I want to completely overcome this problem

and I fully and completely accept myself".

And that's it!

It's as simple as that. There's no need for you to worry about getting it wrong, or getting the wrong statement.

ALL TAPPING YOU DO IS GOOD FOR YOU.

Any tapping you do stimulates the meridians, relaxes you, calms you and makes you feel a little better, even if you get totally the wrong opening affirmation and the original problem has not yet shifted.

Just try again with a different start up phrase, or think about what the truth about the problem might be.